


Division Four

by laughish



Category: Psycho-Pass, The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Don't copy to another site, Other, Psycho Pass AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 09:12:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18736027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laughish/pseuds/laughish





	1. Unjaded

"Inspector Satrinava? Nice to meet you. I'm Inspector Alnazar. I was sent to accompany your division due to short handedness?" Asra introduced himself briefly, stating his name and business with a prim fashion. The inspector in question gave Asra a wry smile. 

"You're a new inspector, right? Welcome to the MWPSB, but right now we can't talk. There's a report of underground fighting activity happening in this warehouse. I did some investigating and found out that a match is supposed to take place tonight, so this is our opportunity... Be careful. I feel like it may turn into a bloodbath tonight, and I don't want your psycho pass being clouded. Let the enforcers do most of the dirty work if it gets too much for you, alright?" she grabbed a Dominator out of the black box, eyes shining a cold blue as soon as she was connected to the device. Asra's mouth quirked upwards at her warning as he grabbed his own Dominator. The voice surprised him, ringing through his head when no one else heard it, but it carried a solid tone that he could ignore easily. 

_"Dominator Portable Psychological Diagnosis and Suppression System has been activated. User authentication: Inspector Asra Alnazar. Affiliation: Public Safety Bureau, Criminal Investigation Department. Dominator usage approval confirmed. You are a valid user."_

Nadia began a short discussion with another inspector. She looked stiff around him, colder than she was to Asra at least. The inspector wrinkled his nose and scowled as Nadia shoved a hair tie into his face. He pulled his braid and wrapped it around itself like a bun before securing it with the hair tie, looking rather disgruntled at being forced to put it up. In all fairness, though, Nadia had tightly pulled her own thick hair into a bun. Asra assumed that it was for safety reasons. He'd seen enforcers with ponytails and braids, but he supposed that things were more dangerous with them all possibly going against people who knew how to fight and take advantage of things like long hair. 

_"Current enforcement mode is Non-Lethal Paralyser. Aim calmly and disable the target."_

Nadia said something. The humid air tingled with something akin to excitement that flowed from the enforcers present. With an exchanged nod, the group rushed towards the warehouse. Nadia slammed her shoulder into the door. It gave instantly, shrieking open like an alarm. Even with the horrendous noise, no one took notice of the officials yet. The police drones wheeled themselves in first, followed by drones storing first aid supplies in them. Nadia pointed her chin into the darkness as a call to action, the division and Asra quickly moving in. It was silent, save for their soles making sharp impact with the floor. Asra wrinkled his nose at the dank scent that mixed with an unpleasant undertone of metal. 

"Over here!" an enforcer whisper-shouted, their voice echoing down the empty building. The black haired inspector sneered.

"Oh, of course. How cliche. It's quite literally an _underground_ fighting rink, huh? What a mess..." he approached the trap door and looked at the electronic lock. Nadia coughed.

"Valerius, don't you dare even think about trying to open it alone." she warned. "If that thing has an alarm on it, you could kill us all. We have a new person on this mission. At worst, you'll be accountable for killing a new recruit when we're already severely understaffed." Valerius obeyed with a resigned sigh. Even though, technically, Asra and Valerius were on the same level of authority as Nadia, it seemed that Nadia was the true ringleader. Asra approached the trap door, crouching down to look at it as Valerius stood up to rejoin the enforcers and search the perimeters. He looked at the electronic screen over the locking mechanism with a small chuckle.

"I can crack this." he stated boldly. Nadia's brow quirked at his assertion. She looked intrigued at his claim, drawing her Dominator and pointing it at the door carefully.

"You're good with technology then, I assume." she said. Asra nodded, brushing some of the hair out of his face. 

"It won't take long and it's better than wasting a Decomposer shot on it..." he reasoned as he slipped his Dominator into the holster on his back, under the jacket of his uniform. "Everyone, be ready. I'm not sure what lays behind this door." with one of the Drones, he made quick work of unlocking the security system. 

"What on earth are you doing?" Valerius asked, gazing apprehensively at Asra. His question went ignored. Tense silence squeezed adrenaline through everyone's veins. No one moved until Asra grasped the handle and ripped the trap door open. A gust of warm air flew into his face and ruffled his hair, blowing the smell of sweat past him. No one was immediately by them, but a flight of stairs trailed down towards the undeniable origin of rambunctious noise. 

"Rowdy..." Nadia sighed to herself, expression darkening as a thought crossed her mind. "This is exactly the kind of crowd that Lucio would be able to attract like ants. There's probably too many for us to apprehend, so let's just try to round up all of the fighters. At the very least, we know that the fighters probably have a high crime coefficient. I doubt it, but we may even catch Lucio this time. I recommend that you shoot on sight." she briefed them curtly. Valerius's lips pressed thinly together as the enforcers first descended down the hall. He grabbed a police microphone from one of the drones and ran down with them. Asra's brows rose at his bold approach, but he did suppose that it was the best way to get the crowd to scatter.

"This is the Ministry of Welfare's Public Safety Bureau!" he announced loudly. His voice sliced through the sea of chattering, silencing it almost immediately. It was like everyone thought it was a joke. They probably did, until one of the enforcers shot their Dominator. Like a swarm of locusts, faceless people suddenly swarmed towards multiple exits to escape the underground area. Honestly, Asra was impressed at just how many escapes were available without being noticed earlier. 

"This is a fine mess." he muttered to himself, arming himself with the Dominator and pointing it into the swarm. The crime coefficients were about as high as Asra expected for people who had the stomach to watch others fight to the death. He tried to push himself against the tide, almost getting knocked over multiple times. He would have fallen if it weren't for the people surrounding him that kept him from toppling over completely. His Dominator shined a bright blue in the washed out lighting of the large room. With a bit of trouble, he managed to propel himself through the crowd and into a thick metal railing. It hit his ribs harshly and knocked the air out of him upon impact, but he did manage to get there before his coworkers and subordinates. The sight that awaited him was... A bit shocking, really. Pointing his Dominator cautiously at the large man trying to pull himself off of the bloody ground, Asra slowly jumped over the railing. 

_"Target Threat Judgement has been acquired. Target's Crime Coefficient is over 300. Enforcement Mode: Lethal Eliminator. Please aim carefully and eliminate the target."_

The Dominator gave him the word to kill, but Asra hesitated. It wasn't that he was so against killing, but the man on the floor looked more like a victim than a violent instigator. The fighter bore a heavy wound on his head, a deep gash that looked to have been caused by a blunt weapon, and he had a protective arm over his chest. Raspy breathes escaped him, followed by coughing. The large man's green eyes were narrowed with pain as he gazed down the barrel of the Dominator with a mix of astonishment and existential fear. There were no words exchanged between them, just a small whimper that communicated the fighter's part of the situation. Asra took a deep breath and closed his eyes, pointing the Dominator away and making a show of having the fighter watch it revert back to its normal form. 

"Where's the other one?" he asked. The chaos had dwindled down considerably, Enforcers in the background tying some stragglers up for interrogation. He heard another Dominator begin to switch modes, followed by a second one. Breaking eye contact with the fighter, he looked at Nadia and Valerius inquisitively. 

"What are you doing, Asra?" Valerius sputtered. He looked absolutely bewildered to see the situation. "He's got a Crime Coefficient of 341 for God's sake! He could be dangerous!" though his words were urgent, he didn't pull the trigger. Of course he wouldn't... Not until Nadia made the move, after all. Asra put a hand up.

"I don't think he's a threat, do you?" he said, pointing at the fighter who made no move to get up. A small smile graced his lips and an unknown glint crossed his eye. Nadia instantly reacted, pointing her Dominator to the ground with certainty. Valerius's eyes almost bulged out of his head. "Let me handle him. If he's a fighter, he must know about the people behind these gatherings. Don't you think that information's important to get?" 

"I..." Valerius huffed, pointing his Dominator away as well. Asra nodded and looked back down at the injured fighter. 

"I need you to calm down as much as you can. I can't guarantee your survival if you don't calm down." Asra's voice reverted to its natural airy tone, softer and more soothing to hear. "You're hurt, right? We'll fix you up as best we can, but we can't do that until you've calmed down." 

"He ran with the crowd..." he said, glaring at a specific exit. Nadia's eyes narrowed and she made a split second decision, motioning for Valerius to follow her down the escape route. Of course. It would be dangerous to let someone conditioned to fight out into society. Asra didn't even watch them leave.

"Hey, what's your name?" Asra inquired. "I'm Asra." he added quickly to be courteous. 

"... Muriel." the fighter answered gruffly. Asra frowned a bit. Either Muriel's voice was extremely gravelly, or his injury was making it difficult to talk. Maybe both. Silence engulfed the two of them as Asra tried to size Muriel up. 

"Muriel is a nice name to have. Say, if you could eat anything right now, what would you like to eat?" Asra tried to move Muriel's mind to a more pleasant place before pointing the Dominator at him again. Most people typically got more stressed when they had the police's most prominent and recognisable weapon pointed at them. 

"Something sweet or sour... I think." Muriel answered uncertainly. Asra nodded. 

"I'll see what I can do." he said simply, pointing his Dominator at Muriel's large chest. He was worried that the Non-Lethal Paralyser may not be enough to knock Muriel out, but he'd seen it knock other large people out before. Muriel let out another small whimper, averting his eyes as his lip furled downwards into a miserable expression. His fate was about to be determined by the Sibyl System.

_"Target's Threat Judgement has been updated. Enforcement Mode: Non-Lethal Paralyser. Please aim carefully and subdue the target."_


	2. Reopened

The first moment that Muriel opened his eyes, he was met with the cool and inquisitive gaze of an unknown inspector. The gentle hum of the machines surrounding him almost lulled him back to sleep, but his sudden panic beat out the haziness in his head. His ribs felt sore and his head felt like a lead ball about to topple off of its shoulders, and within a few seconds that he thought he had sat up, he found himself immobilised. The sudden change on the heart monitor next to him snapped the inspector out of her thoughts and she gave him a reassuring smile, putting both hands up to show that she was unarmed.

“It would be in your best interests to relax and try to get rest. Asra may have avoided shooting you in the spine, but he did shoot you directly in the chest. It seems that you had already sustained a few injuries before you were shot.” she said. Her tone was impeccably professional. Not only was it distanced, but it was also trustworthy. The perfect combination to use for greetings or deals, Muriel noted. His memories were blurry at best, but he already knew that some deal had been struck to keep him alive. There was no way that his Crime Coefficient was acceptable enough to allow him to live after everything he’d been forced to do.

“Asra...” Muriel tried to put a face to the name, but all he could remember was seeing a mop of white hair and then the intimidating pale blue light of a Dominator. The lady nodded.

“He was the inspector who brought you here. It’s impressive, really. He showed us the records and your Crime Coefficient was...” she started to explain, but her expression dropped slightly before rising again. “Never mind that. He was able to talk you down so that you could be brought here. Right now he’s filing in his report of the incident, so he asked me to explain things to you should you wake up while he was busy.” she said. Her hands went back to resting on her lap, one hand folded over the other. Both of them looked to be perfectly manicured.

“Please... If you need to interrogate me, get it done with.” Muriel implored, closing his eyes as a sharp pain passed through his ribs. Nadia frowned lightly.

“Of course, but you should collect yourself first. You should be feeling some dizziness and soreness, but if your injuries hurt, please let me know. Even if you are a latent criminal, we would like to give you the utmost hospitality for the time being.” she replied. Muriel laid still in the hospital bed for a few moments, staring blankly up at the wall as he tried to conjure his memories. Slowly, he could make out what had happened prior to his hospitalisation. The fighting ring and then the MWPSB raid that followed.

“I’m fine.” he finally said. The inspector’s patience was impressive. She showed no annoyance at his gruff tone or minimal sentences. She nodded, clearing her throat gently.

“Very well. Before anything, let me introduce myself. My name is Nadia Satrinava, the ex-wife of Lucio and one of the senior inspectors of the MWPSB. Asra tells me that your name is Muriel.” she introduced herself. Her precise introduction told Muriel much of what was about to come and what Nadia’s intentions were. To state her relation to Lucio as a way of connecting to Muriel, and then state her animosity towards him. Muriel tried to nod, but moving his head made him feel unbalanced and his perception of his surroundings skewed.

“I’m Muriel. I was... One of Lucio’s fighters...” Muriel answered Nadia’s introduction with his own. It was brief, but precise on his terms. Nadia smiled as her shoulders relaxed. Had she truly been so tense? It was something that Muriel failed to notice.

“If you can, tell us as much about Lucio that you know as possible.” Nadia said. It wasn’t a demanding task that she asked of him, but it was a mentally draining one. Muriel searched for everything he knew. He knew far too much about Lucio, but he also knew too little of Lucio’s typical whereabouts and criminal tendencies. The most obvious thing that he could name, which he was sure that Nadia would know either way, was that Lucio sometimes participated in underground fighting rings. Muriel could only say that Lucio participated in almost any crime just short of human trafficking.

“He’s hard to miss if he’s in a room... He attracts crowds and riles them up easily...” Muriel started, looking into Nadia’s understanding eyes. Her undivided attention and sympathy urged him to continue talking. “He uses blackmail against people. I’m sure that he’s freed latent criminals from facilities for their service... Even if he’s not a smart hider, he has brute force on his side and a network of people who fear him and people who want him dead but shake hands with him anyways.” his green eyes narrowed with agitation as he continued. “He goes out in broad daylight sometimes, but anyone who confronts him ends up...” Muriel recalled some of the few times that Lucio had been almost cornered by people, vigilante or legal inspectors. “Abducted and missing or killed on the spot. It depends on Lucio’s mood.” a pit curled in Muriel’s stomach as he reviewed his memories. Nadia held up her hand to stop him.

“Thank you. This information is good, but for investigative purposes, can you tell us anything about where he most often goes? Does he have any co-conspirators? If it isn’t too burdensome on your mental health, can you explain how you ended up serving him?” Nadia asked apologetically. Muriel sighed, but not because of Nadia’s request.

“I’m not sure where he goes or who he’s surrounded by... I’m mostly locked into a room after fights.” Muriel said. He felt bad for not having any information that would be substantially helpful. He didn’t even know where he was whenever he was let out to fight. “When I’m let out, the surroundings are different.” he added quickly in a feeble attempt to add better information to his testimony.

"Alright. And, if you don’t mind, can you tell me a little bit about your background? If not, can you tell me about yourself now? I feel like it would be most fair if Asra himself offered his deal to you, but I am curious about your identity. Asra saw it fit to try to spare your life. He’s a new inspector and most inspectors under the training system are taught to kill anyone with a Crime Coefficient that is beyond reconciliation, so your survival is nothing short of a miracle.” Nadia explained. Muriel tried to think of the least painful or vulnerable way to explain his situation.

“Lucio attacked my family and the shelter that our community lived in. One of those latent criminals he employed burnt the entire place down... There were too many mouths to feed, so I was sent away and Lucio took me in with the promise that he wouldn’t bother the shelter again.” Muriel scowled, exhaling sharply from his nose. “I wasn’t a fighter then... It was when I grew a bit more that he got me to fight. By then I had nowhere else to go. I knew because he used to show me my hue and it just kept getting... Darker. If I left, I’d be shot dead by the MWPSB.” he concluded roughly. His tone became abrasive. Nadia’s eyes widened slightly and she reached a hand out to place it on Muriel’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry... That’s horrible and it can’t be undone. Even if it was my ex-husband who did this to you, I want to make up for everything. I’m unsure of whether I was still married to him during that time, but I failed to stop him from committing such atrocities when we were together. I only hope that I can apprehend him now that we are wholly separated.” she declared. Her face was set and determined and her red eyes shined with a fire that turned them from warm to smouldering. Muriel couldn’t find it in himself to blame her for anything that happened to him.

“... Not your fault.” Muriel stated. Nadia began to protest, but the door opened with the whir of gears and a familiar face revealed itself from behind the metal slate.

“Inspector Satrinava.” Asra and Nadia nodded to each other. The purple haired inspector rose out of her seat to leave, but Asra quickly stopped her. “No, wait. I have news for you too.” he said. Nadia gave him a quizzical look, but sat back down anyways. Asra turned to look down at Muriel. Some strange emotion passed through his twitching mouth. “You feel fine now, right?”

“Yeah...” Muriel answered blankly. “You have something to tell me. A deal, right?” he cut straight to the point. Asra smirked a bit.

“Nadia didn’t tell you?” he asked, glancing at her with amusement.

“I thought it best to leave the deal to you. It was you who thought of it in the first place.” Nadia responded evenly. Asra nodded.

“Alright. Well, no beating around the bush then. You must be tired... Listen to me, Muriel.” Asra locked his purple eyes onto Muriel with the intensity of a burning star. “You have nowhere to go except for an isolation facility... If your Crime Coefficient remains low enough for the Sibyl system to say that you aren’t an immediate threat to the public. You can either die, be trapped in a white room forever, or...” he paused for dramatic affect, letting his harsh words sink in. “You can become an Enforcer. You won’t have the same rights as normal people, but it’s better than getting a lethal injection. You’ll have your own customisable room and you’ll get daily meals. You won’t have to fight to the death without reward and you’ll never have to obey Lucio ever again.” he bargained. Muriel knew that he didn’t have a choice. Even if he could consider an isolation facility a choice, he knew that it was unlikely. With a sardonic smile, Muriel’s chest rumbled slightly with subdued bitter laughter. All he wanted was peace and quiet, but the system made that unattainable for someone like him.

“Enforcer.” he confirmed without deliberation. Asra nodded.

“Good... Enforcer Muriel. That settles it. Welcome to the newly installed Division Four of the Ministry of Welfare Public Safety Bureau!” he exclaimed. Nadia’s head snapped around with surprise at his words. She didn’t mind it though. Perhaps it was for the best that Muriel would be an Enforcer working under two inspectors that he was already familiar with.


	3. Declaration

Asra watched keenly as Nadia flipped her heavy robotic opponent over and slammed it into the ground with a focused glare. 

“Are you going to watch or are you going to join me?” Nadia asked with a quirked brow. She stood up and brushed herself off. Asra was rather impressed. She hadn’t worked up a sweat at all and she had so flawlessly and efficiently stopped such a heavy, unresponsive opponent. “You’re still new. It’s a good idea to keep your self-defense skills sharp.” she added. 

“I’d be pressed to call that take down ‘self-defense’.” Asra said. Nadia laughed lightly. 

“Perhaps I did overdo it. It’s easier to do that when it’s just a robot.” she responded. She hoisted the white machine up and dragged it back to where it originally was. “Do you wish to give it a try? I am interested to see if they’ve still been teaching the same things back in the University.”

“Really? How long has it been since you first became an Investigator?” Asra questioned. Nadia had such a confident air about her that he could only believe that she was truly a senior Investigator, one who surpassed him in experience by many years. Nadia waved her hand dismissively.

“That is none of your concern. I’ve been here long enough to know that the Sibyl System is far from perfect.” she dismissed. Her answer piqued Asra’s interest and he quickly turned away from the control panel that determined the level of difficulty that the robot would fight at.

“Is that criticism of our sacred legal system?” he joked. A mischievous smile pulled across his lips as he approached Nadia. “Are you saying you doubt the Sibyl System? If that’s the case, shouldn’t you be working somewhere else where it’s less present?” he prodded. A bit of recognition flickered across Nadia’s expression, though it firmly set into a suspicious stony glare. 

“Inspector Alnazar, I wouldn’t suggest pressing this any further. I have my reservations about the Sibyl System, but neither of us will do anything about it. As things stand, the people need this system. If you have any dangerous plots swimming around in your mind, I would suggest that you perish them immediately.” Nadia ordered, every word adding a layer to the atmosphere until there was enough thick tension to chop like a wood log. Asra and Nadia engaged in a stare down, both of them sizing each other’s intentions up.

“Of course... Well, enough with that nonsense. You wanted to see me fight, right? Let me set up the program then.” Asra suddenly exclaimed, stepping away. Nadia almost frowned. Asra sounded sheepish, an animal surrendering from a territorial spat against the big fish in the pond. She silently worried that she may have been too short with him, but she pushed those thoughts away as she tracked Asra’s actions. No matter how dissatisfied they were with the Sibyl System, they’d have to wait before they could even entertain the thought of changing anything after all.

 

“Where are we going?” Muriel mumbled to Asra, shrinking away when he saw a security camera or noticed a patient staring at him. The Rehabilitation Center was painfully colourless, save for the occasional red flashing light warning that a patient’s hue was getting clouded or that their psycho pass was spiking. Asra craned his neck to look over his shoulder and give Muriel a comforting smile.

“Division Four needs more than three people. We’re getting you a friend. Hopefully. It’s your call on whether you want them on your team, but the guy I found seems very promising.” he reassured Muriel as well as he could to quell the giant’s anxiety. He had high hopes for his plan, but he did have to admit that it was turning out to be a bit more perilous than he thought. With Nadia’s impeccable mental defenses and Muriel’s tendency to clam up with very little hope of getting him to come out of his shell, Asra figured that his ideas would take a while to come to fruition. Still, he hoped that introducing another Enforcer may help make Muriel at least a little more sociable. He held a hand up to stop Muriel, turning a corner in the expansive white hallways. They felt endless, but Asra moved around as if he were completely acquainted with the building’s framework. “Hello!” Asra’s voice travelled down the empty halls with a slight echo. Muriel stayed put, not sure who Asra was talking to. “I am Asra Alnazar. I’m a new Inspector of the MWPSB.” his introduction sounded friendly. Muriel concluded that he was probably talking to the new possible recruit. “I brought a friend-- Come here, Muriel!” the way Asra framed it all felt so staged. Muriel was apprehensive of Asra’s approach, but rounded the corner either way. When he found his way to Asra’s side, he looked at the patient. 

“I’m Muriel.” he said curtly, quickly averting his gaze. The patient had a strange aura about him. He looked to be harmless, but he also looked uncanny in a way that made Muriel slightly alarmed. A tall man, not as tall as Muriel, stood near the window in standard white hospital clothes that completely washed out his pale complexion. His hair added a vibrant splash of auburn to his plain living space. 

“Muriel, this is Julian Devorak. Julian, this is Muriel. Muriel is an Enforcer for the newly established Division Four. We currently have only three people, though I was hoping that you’d bump us up to four!” Asra opened. He smoothly cleared a path for the two latent criminals to meet each other peacefully in the middle of the road. Julian’s face contorted, switching from nervous to flustered and then to something unreadable. The uncanny feeling hit Muriel again when they met gazes. 

“I see. So you’re proposing that I leave this cell to put someone else in it and another person six feet under.” Julian quipped sharply. Though his response was unexpected, Asra looked to be unfazed. The twitch of his lips even suggested that he found Julian funny. 

“If that is how you view an Enforcer’s job, then yes.” Asra answered confidently. Muriel began to feel out of place when he looked into both of their eyes. It was a battle of charm, something that Muriel was sure he was unfamiliar with and wholly unqualified to partake in. He started to doubt himself. Why would Asra even ask him to come along anyways? It wasn’t like he was a good negotiator. If anything, Muriel thought that Nadia would be better to assist Asra in the situation. 

“Muriel, you look... Uncomfortable. Tell me this, are you treated well? How does the MWPSB really treat its Enforcers?” Julian’s voice suddenly tore through Muriel’s train of thought. His sly expression made Muriel anxious and Asra’s expectant gaze only worsened it. He quickly adjusted his gaze to his new shoes. 

“Alright...?” Muriel rasped. He felt like whatever he said could be extremely important to both of the others in front of him. “I just got recruited. Ask someone else.” he tried to dismiss himself from the situation, but Julian clicked his tongue. 

“There isn’t anyone else to ask.” he chided. Muriel sighed, feeling Julian’s eyes boring into him. A gaze that was unrelenting and horribly clever. It was the kind of thing he had come to resent ever since he encountered Lucio. It dawned on him that, perhaps, Asra had seen this curve ball coming and brought Muriel along for the sole purpose of the current conversation. He wasn’t so enthusiastic about the prospective new division member, but he decided that Asra’s judgment was correct. If he saw something other than a wild murderer in Muriel, surely Asra saw something else than a suspiciously charming ex-doctor in Julian. 

“Asra gifted me with a new life.” Muriel stated sincerely. He tried to push back his inhibitions and fear of vulnerability, encouraged by Asra’s smile. “The MWPSB can give you freedom. There’s no future here. You should...” he stopped his invitation halfway, wincing when he found that he wasn’t truly sure how to invite Julian. 

“Freedom... Freedom from what, I wonder.” Julian mused to himself. It was definitely a rhetorical question. Muriel waited tensely for any more inquiries, but none came. It was fairly quick, really. He was shocked when Julian’s expression lit up. The dark bags under his eyes stopped casting shadow across his face and his gaunt features became a little less haunting. “I’m interested.” he declared. Asra’s shoulders squared proudly and he turned to Muriel to mouth a ‘thank you’ in his direction. 

“That’s a relief to hear. Well then, sit tight and I will inform the staff of your leave.” Asra said. Muriel watched curiously as Asra passed by him. He caught a triumphant smirk on the Inspector’s face.


End file.
